Darius Slay’s 5 toughest matchups on Philadelphia Eagles 2020 schedule

Philadelphia Eagles star corner Darius Slay gets his wish granted in 2020.

By the time the curtain closes on the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 16-game regular-season stretch in 2020, we’ll know three things for sure. We’ll know if they’ve made their fourth-straight playoff appearance despite having one of the NFL’s toughest schedules. We’ll know if they’ve become the first team to repeat as NFC East division champions since they dominated the division under Andy Reid from 2001 until 2004. We’ll know whether all of that speed paid off like everyone thought it might.

We should also know how good that Darius Slay guy is. In what was perhaps Philly’s biggest move of the offseason, other than drafting Jalen Reagor in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the “Birds” landed one of the game’s best cover guys in a trade during the free agency period.

That one sent two of the Eagles’ 2020 draft picks (a third-round and fifth-round selection) to the Detroit Lions for Slay, a former Second-team All-SEC nod in 2012 who was named a First-team All-Pro after snagging eight interceptions in 2017.

Philly signed him to a three-year deal worth $50 million including $30 million guaranteed. Much is expected of the man who will wear number 24 in honor of the late and great Kobe Bryant. He’s said all of the right things. He says he wants to be great. He says he wants to guard the game’s best receivers so he can prove that he’s one of the game’s best.

He’ll get plenty of opportunities to do just that in 2020. Here are what might prove to be his five toughest challenges on the 2020 regular-season schedule. Here’s a spoiler. Amari Cooper isn’t on this list.